Elena Delle Donne

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The cast of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the closing scene of the series finale together sang, “It’s a long, long way to Tipperary.” To initially begin our WNBA playoffs discussion, we note that it’s simply a long, long way to seven wins, the required number needed to capture a championship trophy next month. Winning the first in a best-of-three series generally puts additional pressure on the other team that now must win the next two contests to advance. Several “insiders” recently shared their thoughts and prognostications with the MSR on the 2013 WNBA eight-team playoffs that begin Thursday. “I think it will be a battle between those two [on] who will come out of the West,” says Indiana Coach Lin Dunn on Minnesota and Los Angeles, seeded one and two respectively in the West. Asked about her club’s

post-season chances, Dunn says, “Right now we’re not a great team, but we got a chance.”

“It doesn’t matter where you are going into the playoffs as long as you get in,” adds Indiana forward Tamika Catchings on the Fever’s 4th-seed position in the East. Continue Reading →

Before this season began, Chicago was the only WNBA team not to have played in the post-season. That distinction ends next week when the Sky begins its first-ever second season as the Eastern Conference’s top seed. Drafting Elena Delle Donne as their first pick in April, the continued development of center Sylvia Fowles, and guard Epiphany Prince’s steady play are just three long paragraphs in the Sky’s season-long success story. But the league’s only Black female head coach and general manager deserves more than a passing notice. Before the season, some hinted that if Chicago didn’t advance this year, Pokey Chatman’s job might be in jeopardy. Continue Reading →

They haven’t as yet received attention similar to “The Big 3” WNBA rookies — Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins and Elena Delle Donne — but here are two other “under the radar” rookies who are also worth noting.

Ta’Shauna Rodgers

A first-round selection usually is a roster lock, but that’s not necessarily the case for players picked in later rounds. Once a projected first-rounder, Minnesota guard Ta’Shauna “Sugar” Rodgers was the 14th overall pick in the 2013 Draft. “I had to come in here and try out,” recalls the second-rounder. “When I made the team, I was excited. Continue Reading →

The 2013 WNBA season opened last weekend in Dickensian fashion — great expectations. “I think this is the most anticipated season for me,” proclaims ESPN analyst and former WNBA coach/general manager Carolyn Peck. SB Nation’s Nate Parham analyzed each W club, in 25 words or less, by conference, beginning with the East:

[New coach Mike Thibault] “will make a huge difference” in Washington, but unresolved ball-handling issues may prove too much. Atlanta still is Angel McCoughtry’s team, but point guard might be a problem. This year’s second overall pick, Elena Delle Donne, will help Chicago, but can the Sky overcome the early absence of star guard Epiphanny Prince, who contractually must play in Russia in June? Continue Reading →

The Big 3 draft” was no surprise. Through the days and weeks, if not the last few years, leading up to Monday’s WNBA draft, top picks Britney Griner, Skylar Diggins and Elena Delle Donne were a three-headed Carly Simon anticipation trio of college stars that the league hadn’t seen before. The picks played out as expected. It was essentially two drafts in one. The game-changers went first:

Tayler Hill, the first Minneapolis City Conference player to be a WNBA first-round pick since Tamara Moore in 2002, was among 12 invited prospects to attend Monday’s draft at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. During last week’s pre-draft media conference call, the MSR asked Hill, the 5’-10 Minneapolis South graduate who played her college ball at Ohio State, about any anxiety leading up to the clear possi

bility of hearing her name be called. “I’m a little excited, but I am anxious too at the same time,” she admitted. “I’m trying not to over think it. Whatever team I get drafted to, it’s going to be a blessing.”

Two big changes were recently announced by the WNBA: an extension of its current deal with ESPN for six years, and a new logo was unveiled. “This new extension,” proclaimed ESPN President John Skipper at the March 28 press conference in New York, “ensures we will be together a minimum of 26 years. We have been with the league since it started in 1997.”

“I feel like we’ve spent the last three or four months meeting with literally every department within ESPN to talk about how these two great companies can come together and really take women’s sports to the next level,” added WNBA President Laurel Richie. Up to 30 W games, including playoffs, the draft, and the all-star game, will be shown on ESPN during the extended deal that now runs through 2022. That adds up to only 180 games over the life of the contract in comparison to the 220 NBA games telecast each season on ESPN, ABC, TNT and NBA TV. Continue Reading →

This 2012 WNBA season is now history. Throughout the league’s 16th season the MSR brushed with several historical “firsts” — persons who did something that hadn’t been done before and, in some cases, hasn’t been duplicated.

Tamara Moore — the first Minneapolitan

“I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had with the Lynx,” says the team’s first and only Minneapolis-born player. A former 2002 first-round pick by Miami, Moore was traded to Minnesota in June 2002 for Betty Lennox and a future first-round pick, which at the time was considered a controversial trade. “To be the first…and being part of the program and seeing where it is right now is a great experience,” Moore says. Continue Reading →